


can't live (if living is without you)

by SoccerSarah01



Category: One Piece
Genre: Ace and Luffy love each other so much and I adore them, Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, also allusions to marineford? me? never, i love these two so much, nothing better than ace freaking out about luffy almost dying amirite ;)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:21:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26806534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoccerSarah01/pseuds/SoccerSarah01
Summary: Luffy may be undeniably good at finding trouble, but his balance has always been solid. He’ll be fine.And he is – bouncing from rock to rock and grinning all the while. And then-Luffy’s foot slips on the wet rock right in front of the shore.Before Ace knows it, his little brother is swept beneath the waves of the river, only a cut-off scream lingering in his wake.
Relationships: Monkey D. Luffy & Portgas D. Ace
Comments: 6
Kudos: 97





	can't live (if living is without you)

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Не могу жить (если живу без тебя)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27352840) by [EvilCatW](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvilCatW/pseuds/EvilCatW)



> Hi guys! So I got the prompt ace + currents from a discord server, and it got a lot longer than most of my ficlets so I decided to publish it as its own fic.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!
> 
> Edit: Thanks to the wonderful EvilCatW, this now has a translation into Русский! Thank you so much!!!

“Luffy!”

“Over here, Ace!”

Ace sighs fondly as he emerges from the tree line to see his little brother balancing on a rock in the middle of a river, a beetle that he must have seen and decided he absolutely _had_ to have in his hands. Luffy has always been obsessed with beetles – Ace can’t say he really understands the appeal, but he can appreciate his brother’s happiness.

Ace calls over, “Come back over here! We have to get food for Dadan before the sun sets.” Luffy nods, and makes to jump over to the rock in front of him to get back to the shore. Worry at Luffy doing this while being surrounded by the rapids spikes through Ace, but he shoves it down easily.

Luffy may be undeniably good at finding trouble, but his balance has always been solid. He’ll be fine.

And he is – bouncing from rock to rock and grinning all the while. And then-

Luffy’s foot slips on the wet rock right in front of the shore.

Before Ace knows it, his little brother is swept beneath the waves of the river, only a cut-off scream lingering in his wake.

“ _Shit!_ ” Ace curses, already tossing his hat to the side as he dives into the river. The currents immediately tug him with them, and he is barely able to keep his body under control, the waves tugging him this and that and the other way.

Normally, Ace is easily able to find Luffy in the waters, but normally, the currents aren’t quite this strong, the waves this tall, the rapids this white. He fails to push down his rising panic as he continues swimming, looking from side to side frantically. He still can’t see that worn straw, or red shirt, or black hair.

 _C’mon, c’mon, c’mon,_ Ace thinks desperately as he continues swimming, fighting against the waves pulling him under (fighting like Luffy can’t do-). He needs to save Luffy – fuck, he doesn’t know _what_ he’ll do if he can’t find him.

As time rushes on and Ace’s fear rises that he won’t find him, he catches a glimpse of a worn straw hat washed up on the shore next to him, and relief fills him even as urgency strengthens his strokes. He presses on – Luffy’s close, he _has_ to be – through his exhaustion, and finally, _finally_ , sees Luffy, caught on some vines under one of the few calm sections of the river. He fights his way against the currents to his younger brother and wraps an arm around his chest, pulling him up and collapsing on the shore.

Relief floods him – he found him, thank fuck, he _found_ him – but it’s short lived as he glances over at Luffy. Normally, Luffy’s up and moving after coughing up some water, and everything’s fine.

(But, this isn’t normal. Normal is them goofing off by the shallows, and Luffy being easy to see as Ace dives in to save him. Normal is Luffy being found quickly. Normal is Luffy being under for less than thirty seconds under water.

Normal isn’t Ace not being able to save him for at _least_ a few minutes. Normal isn’t his brother still laying on the ground, still. Normal isn’t his brother not breathing.)

“ _Fuck,_ ” Ace says emphatically, bolting to his brother’s side and rolling him fully onto his back. “One, two, three, four,” Ace mutters, frantically pushing on his brother’s chest (thank _god_ Dadan had seen fit to teach him this a couple years ago).

His brother remains still (too still, Luffy hasn’t been this still since the bear – since Ace’s _failure_ ) as Ace presses down on Luffy’s chest. He continues, panic and despair rising more and more as Luffy doesn’t respond, and Ace resorts to punching down on his brother’s chest, hoping the extra force will help – thank god he’s rubber, otherwise Ace wouldn’t be able to do that without hurting Luffy even more.

Minutes pass, and Ace refuses to give up. Luffy can’t be dead. He _can’t_ be. Ace can’t lose him.

(He can’t be the reason yet another person Ace cares about dies.)

Finally, Luffy coughs, and it’s the most wonderful sound Ace’s ever heard. Ace almost collapses, pure relief flooding his veins. All he wants to do is bring his little brother into the tightest hug possible, but instead, he helps his little brother sit up, and Luffy continues coughing up water. Once Luffy looks up at him, seemingly finished coughing, Ace finally gives in and launches forward, crushing Luffy in a hug.

“Thank god, thank god, thank god,” Ace mutters, holding his brother close. He could have lost Luffy. He almost _did_ lose Luffy.

He almost lost the only thing that makes his life worth living.

He doesn’t realize he’s crying until Luffy pulls back slightly, confusion clear on his face even as he wraps one arm around Ace in return. The other rubs at his cheeks, and Ace leans into it, for once not caring that he’s showing this much emotion.

(He almost lost this. _Shit,_ Luffy almost died; he could have never felt this – felt the comfort that only Luffy can give him, again.)

“Don’t scare me like that, dammit,” Ace says, voice thick, drawing Luffy closer in again. He closes his eyes and buries his face in Luffy’s shoulder, choking out, “I almost lost you, Luffy. I _can’t_ lose you.” _Not like Sabo. He can’t lose another brother._

 _He can’t let_ another _brother die._

“But you didn’t,” Luffy says, and the honest confusion on his face makes Ace want to scream. “You saved me, so it’s fine!”

“I almost didn’t!” Ace bursts out, and Luffy only stares at him as Ace finally breaks, leaning away from Luffy and saying wildly, “Luffy, you were almost _dead._ I almost wasn’t able to save you – it was almost just like Sabo – dammit, Luffy, I can’t go through that again.”

Ace clutches at Luffy’s back, voice cracking as he repeats, “I _can’t_.”

Luffy remains still for a moment before he draws Ace closer, murmuring, understanding coating his tone, “I’m still here. Ace, you saved me. It’s okay. It’s okay.”

Luffy gently drags Ace’s head down against his chest, and Ace leans into his brother as he continues murmuring soft reassurances. He feels Luffy’s breathing, slow and constant, beneath his head; feels Luffy’s steady heartbeat against his ear, and finally allows himself to breathe easy.

Luffy’s still here.

He’s still alive.

Ace reaffirms his promise to himself, right then and there, that it will always be that way.

As long as he draws breath, no matter _what_ he has to do, Luffy will not die.

Ace will never let himself lose a brother ever again. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> (If you want to come say hi, here's [my writing Tumblr](https://sarahwritesss.tumblr.com/)!)


End file.
